Knowledge management and learning process of community food product production

Abstract

This study aims to explore knowledge management and learning process of community food product production and to propose key factors for formulating strategies in order to improve knowledge management and learning process on local food production. The qualitative research design was conducted in 6 community food producers. Those were 3 learning center of food production and 3 common community producers which located in Nontaburi province and Lampang province. The data was collected between June 2011-May 2012 with in-depth interview, observation, and informal focus group method. The findings were: the knowledge management processes of each community food producer were differed from other business organization. Those were accessing and capture knowledge from outside sources, and knowledge transfer to outside community through relation of community network. Other KM processes were knowledge creation for use inside community, tacit knowledge capture and sharing, knowledge codifying to explicit knowledge. Learning process was the process which mainly acquired knowledge from master to novice. Most knowledge in community food production was more tacit knowledge than explicit knowledge. There have been more knowledge capture and sharing with people-to-people approach than codifying knowledge. The learning center community producers and the common community producers were not different in managing knowledge of food formulation whereas they have more codifying and transfer of GMP knowledge than the common community producers. The key factors that influenced to KM and learning were collective identity, leadership, social relation, organization goal and public support. The recommendation were to establish learning center and community food production network in order to promote knowledge acquisition, sharing and transferring to other communities, especially to GMP knowledge to promote food safety practice to nationwide community producers.